Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-12-30
ANTIQUES MADE TO ORDER.
A New York studio Where Relics OF
Olden Art Are Manufactured.

arnor. hanging lamps, tiles from Pom
pei, Dattle axes with polished blades,
tools innumerabe, large vat of earth
enware, work benches and a few mod
ern canebotton chairs-these and a score
of other objects obtruded themselves
simultaneously upon the visitor.
Huddled together in one corner. near
a small lathe, such as jewelers. use. lay
an incongruous heap of bronze figures of
men and animals, all more or less bro
ken. They were cheap. gimcrack af-
fairs such as one can buy brand new for
a few dollars in any furniture store.
"Where do you get them?" | inquired
of my host-we were on the best of
terms.
"At the junk dealers for the price Of
the old metal, he answered. 1.-The bet
ter ones--of real bronze-I pick up at
auctions or at least my son does. None
of that lot over there cost more than
$1.75."
gasped and let my eyes wander fur
Their until they rested on deal table be-
tween the two windows. Above it was
a gas bracket connected by rubber tubing
with a small iron standard, such as
chemists use. Near this. on the table,
lay two blowpipes, with platinum tips
and several long pronged pinchers. Di-
rectly behind these stood large paste
board box brimful of bits of glass and
empty homeopathic medicine bottles. Ny
host smiled as he caught the puzzled
look which stole over my face.
1T is out of that stuff we make those
Etruscan iridescent tear walls you see in
museums" he remarked, while his small
eyes twinllled gleefully. ''At least my
daughter makes them. 1t is easy work.
Wait minute and III show you how 1t
is done, and with that he lighted the gas
at the nozzle of the standard l watched
him curiously
He took pinchers and inserted one of
its long jaws into medicine bottle from
the collection. This done. he twirled it
gently over the gas for half a minute.
1T must heat gradually or it will
crack, " he said in explanation. Next,
placing a blowpipe to his lips, he blew a
steady flame against the glass until ii
glowed with roseate fire and began to
fuse. A portion of its surface caved in;
he turned it over, blowing all the while,
until the vial lost all its symmetry and
presented four irregular sides, each in.
dented. Then, quick as a flash. he threw
the molten fragment into pan of reddish
powder, and rolled it and twisted il
about with his pinchers. That is me.
tallic oxide of "copper"" he explained, as
he picked the vial out and started blow
ing. Again the glass began to fuse, and
the antiquity maker, with second pain
of pinchers, drew what had once been
the bottom of the vial out into a cone
shaped point. a fine rasp was passed
over the entire surface, after which the
| glowing vial was whisked through a par
of powdered rosin. 1t was next dipped
into gold powder, silver powder and
green aniline dye. A final fusing. anc
then the mouth of the unrecognizablt
bottle was crimped into little scollop:
with a wire instrument resembling &
miniature crimping tongs.
The metamorphosis was complete. Al
ordinary medicine bottle had been changed
into a beautiful, iridescent tear vial be
fore my very eyes.
There, triumphantly exclaimed the
antiquity maker as he stuck the tear via
into perforated pasteboard stand to cool
Il buy those little bottles for ten cents {
dozen and l can sell that tear vial easily
for Sc. That is can sell it for that il
anybody wants it, but there is not {
steady demand for tear walls. BY thi
time my brain was busy with a new
problem.
What doyou do with all those broker
files" l inquired, pointing to a goot
sized chest half filed with them.
"Old files make the very best Of steel,
replied the magician of the workshop
Il melt them and hammer them out t.
make the blades of Venetian daggers
Look ! have portable forge in here,
and so saying he opened the door into {
smaller room. Sure enough there STOOD
a tiny forge and beside it a work bencl
Uttered with tools. Among them lay
quaint female figure. picked it up.
was silver and quite heavy.
That is the hilt of dagger, my hos
exclaimed. 1T is not pure silver: TIN
inside is lead. Yes, it looks very ancient
but cast it myself only the day beior,
yesterday. What makes its surface :,
worn and rough: l sprinkled it will
nitric acid out of this little stone flask
and then washed it off quickly. Here il
a finished dagger. What do you thinl
of it,
1t was a magnificent weapon. and
said so. at the same time expressing sur
prise at the gold tiligree imbedded in TN
blue steel blade. Il thought the secre
of that sort of work persisted with tin
swordmakers of Damascus, said |
Wolters gave no information on tina
subject, but pointed To row of statuette
which lined shelf above my head.
There they stood, gods. goddesses AM
demgods, nymphs satyrs, dryads. naiad
and nereids, all antique. all more or les
green with verdigris, and all more or les
dilapidated. A one armed Apollo wa
there; Mercury, minus his caduceus
lapsided Juno; Jupiter grasping
broken thunderbolt, and a Bacchant
raising broken goblet to her laughing
lips. Had they been what they purporte
to be $1,000 would have been ltd